Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2007

Department

Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs

Abstract

We argue that certain provisions of alliance treaties can signal credible commitments to a peaceful relationship among members and establish institutional mechanisms that promote the settlement of disagreements through peaceful negotiation. Nonaggression, peaceful dispute settlement, military institutionalization, and permanent organization provisions should increase the duration of peace between alliance members; we test our hypotheses with a duration model. The analysis generally supports our expectations except that alliances that create permanent organizations, even those specifically established to arbitrate disagreements, are associated with shorter durations of peace. We conclude with some implications of our argument for the study of military alliances and international institutions more broadly.

Comments

©Journal of Politics

DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2508.2007.00611.x

Publication Title

Journal of Politics

Volume

69

Issue

4

First Page

1103

Last Page

1117

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